Sociology of law by E. Ehrlich

The paper deals with the problem of determining the content and significance of the sociology of law by the Austrian lawyer E. Ehrlich. His works played an important role in developing the sociology of law in legal science. At the same time, the focus on the methods of presentation and cognition of classical sociology contributed to the synthesis of legal and sociological approaches to studying the law. This strengthened interdisciplinary relations while understanding the status of the sociology of law and its content-related continuity and novelty. The paper emphasizes the lack of in-depth Russian and international studies of Ehrlich’s works able to reveal the ideological and theoretical origins of his social and legal views. Having analyzed the works of E. Ehrlich, the author concludes that an attempt of several researchers to equate the so-called legal pluralism with the sociology of law seems unreasonable and leads to a misinterpretation of its evolution and current state.